Ghana elevates its open water swimming Officials

The Ghana Swimming Association hosted its first National Open Water Swimming Championship in June this year with races in the 14-16, 17-18, 19 & over age groups over 5 km, 7.5 km and 10 km courses.

With the swimmers now ready for even more races, the Ghana Swimming Association along with the other open water swimming officials from Namibia and South Africa, is preparing its officials to raise the bar of its national competitions.

Along with their colleagues from Namibia and South Africa, Kwami Kpodoh, Technical Director of the Ghana Swimming Association, Helena Williams (Treasurer) and Kweku Sam Brew (Executive Member) visited Johannesburg, South Africa to attend a FINA clinic and become certified FINA Open Water Swimming officials.

Their goal was to help the growing sport in Ghana, Namibia and South Africa to be consistent with FINA's standards in open water swimming. All of the participating officials are now eligible to officiate at FINA's international competitions.

The purpose of the FINA clinic was to expand the number of officials and enhance the quality of the existing officials so that a standard, universal practice of judging is applied across all FINA territories and members; to ensure that judges and officials are up-to-date on the current rules and their application; and to increase the availability of suitably qualified officials to officiate FINA events and events within the member federations.

The top swimmers from Ghana's national championships will race at the upcoming 1st FINA World Junior Open Water Swimming Championships in Welland, Canada from August 16th - 19th.